HOPE SMOLDERS
JACI BURTON
CHAPTER ONE
Despite the five or six little kids trailing behind her, Will Griffin noticed the woman. How could he not? Great legs drew his eye every time, and hers were outstanding.
This woman had dark hair pulled back in some kind of messy ponytail, a rainbow-colored straw hat, and the ugliest swimsuit cover-up thing he’d ever seen.
Not the typical kind of body you saw walking past the glass in the workout room at Hope’s community gym.
Maybe that’s why she’d caught his eye. The kids all squealing with delight as they made their way to the pool might have been the ones who’d drawn his attention at first, but their leader, with her sexy legs peeking out the bottom of that ugly-as-hell cover-up, kept his attention after that.
Plus, he was sure he knew her. Her straw hat was pulled just low enough, and she kept turning her head away from the glass so he couldn’t see her face.
Was she doing it deliberately?
He hadn’t yet started his workout, so he detoured from the gym area where he’d been headed and made a beeline toward the pool.
He hit the men’s locker room and grabbed a towel.
“You gonna do some laps, Will?”
He stopped and turned to look at his friend, Hope police officer Luke McCormack.
“Hey, Luke. Get off late today?”
“Yeah. We had a fender bender up at the high school after the basketball game. With injuries. Took a while to clean that one up.”
Will grimaced. “Is everyone all right?”
“Yeah. Injuries were minor, but that one left me tense so I figured I’d get a workout in. Are you going for a swim?”
Following a woman with kids probably wasn’t the best of ideas. “Actually, I thought I saw someone I know.”
Luke grinned. “Now that you’re off nights, you’re probably going to see a lot of people you know.”
“You’re right. Are you heading into the weight room?”
“Yeah.
His gaze lingered at the door to the pool. “I’ll meet you on the treadmills.”
“Okay. Later.”
After Luke left, Will pushed open the door to the pool area and was instantly hit by the pungent smell of chlorine. The squeals of kids echoed throughout as children splashed and played at the shallow end while adults did laps.
He searched for the woman in the straw hat, but didn’t see her. Ah well, probably best he not act like a stalker anyway. He closed the door and headed to the weight room.
* * *
Jane Kline realized she hadn’t carefully thought out this idea. When she’d originally agreed to take on a part-time job doing day-care duties at the community center gym, she figured she’d hide out in the day-care room while the rest of the hard bodies got their groove on in the workout areas. She could play with the kids and make some desperately needed extra money.
What she hadn’t counted on was the manager asking her to take a few of the kids for a swim, which meant she’d have to walk down the hall toward the indoor pool, and that meant crossing right in front of the glass wall that separated her from said hard bodies huffing and puffing on bikes and treadmills while she toted herself, five six-year-olds, and about ten pounds of excess weight that she kept meaning to take off. But between getting divorced, teaching during the day, and dealing with her own two kids at night, there just didn’t seem to be enough time for diet and exercise.
One would think the post-traumatic divorce stress over the past two years would have caused the weight to drop off, but all it had done was make her crave cookies, donuts, and chocolate. Oh, and pizza. She really liked pizza. So did her kids, and since they were currently without a father, how could she deny them pizza?
But there was no avoiding that glass wall of shame, so she got the kids she was responsible for—including Tabitha, her five-year-old—ready for the pool. She changed in the back room of the day care, then threw her not quite white anymore and kind of holey cover-up on over her swimsuit and tossed the straw sun hat on over her hair, which was a wreck and slightly lopsided. But hey, it worked. She pulled the brim down low. Hopefully none of the residents of her small Oklahoma town would even notice her.
No such luck. They didn’t even make it twenty feet.
“Jane. I didn’t know you were working here.”
“Hi, Jane. So great to see you. Are you here to work out?”
“Oh, Jane. Are you heading to the pool for a swim?” the last one asked with a quick glance in the general direction of her thighs, which no doubt carried much of her pizza weight.
She acknowledged them all with a quick smile and told them she was working and, oh gosh, she had to monitor the kids. Then she stepped up her pace, refusing to even glance to her left where the whirring sound of cardio burn shamed her.
“Mommy, you look funny in that hat.”
“Thanks, Tabby,” she said with a tight smile as they walked along, calling attention to themselves as the kids chattered noisily.
Maybe when she had some free time she’d make use of one of the fringe benefits of working at the center—namely the free gym membership.
Sure. Free time. What was that? She’d long ago lost any comprehension of the word “free.” But whatever it took to keep the roof over her kids’ heads was worth it, so she carried on conversation with the kids and led them to the pool, took off the sun hat, and jerked off her cover-up, refusing to acknowledge her cellulite as she climbed in the water, six screaming five-year-olds cannonballing in all around her.
Good thing she didn’t have much of a hairstyle going anyway, since she was immediately drenched. She swept her hair out of her face.
“Okay, kids,” she said, counting her charges so she could keep track of them. “Remember, we have to stay in the shallow end.”
The kids swam and played and burned off the excess energy that had driven everyone crazy in the tiny room they used for the gym day-care center. After about thirty minutes, Jane rounded them up, dried them off, and led them toward the day-care room, her cover-up clinging to her wet suit as she was once again forced to walk past the glass wall. Only this time she couldn’t help but take a quick glance.
Ugh. The place was packed with sweaty, firm bodies, a lot whom she recognized.
Unfortunately, while she was glancing in the direction of the glass wall, she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going, which sent her crashing into the chest of one of the gym patrons.